Re: New regulation under the Electronic Cigarettes Act, 2015 Regulatory amendments under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act

Greetings,

As part of our commitment to having the lowest smoking rate in Canada, the government has taken additional action to protect the health of the people of Ontario, especially our youth, from taking up smoking, whether regular cigarettes or e-cigarettes.

In May 2015, the Making Healthier Choices Act, 2015 received Royal Assent, meaning that the Smoke-Free Ontario Act was amended to prohibit the sale of flavoured tobacco in Ontario and the new Electronic Cigarettes Act, 2015 was enacted to regulate e-cigarettes in Ontario.

I am pleased to announce that the government has made regulations to help implement these changes.

Regulations

The amended regulation under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act:

Defines “flavouring agent” to clarify the scope of the prohibition on selling flavoured tobacco products;

Exempts, for a 1 year period, menthol flavoured tobacco products and clove flavoured cigarettes from the flavoured tobacco sales ban;

Prohibits smoking on the outdoor grounds of public hospitals, private hospitals, psychiatric facilities and certain office buildings owned by the Government of Ontario;

Prohibits the sale of tobacco in certain office buildings owned by the Government of Ontario; and

Clarifies the signs that must be posted by employers and proprietors of smoke-free places and by tobacco retailers, including signs posted at tobacco retail locations subject to an automatic prohibition.

The new regulation under the Electronic Cigarettes Act, 2015:

Prescribes the signs that retailers must display to customers;

Prescribes the signs that employers and proprietors must post about the ban on using e-cigarettes in certain places;

Further prohibits e-cigarette use in smoke-free places such as bar and restaurant patios, children’s playgrounds, publicly owned sporting areas, 9 metres from the entrances and exits of certain health care facilities, and the outdoor grounds of public hospitals, private hospitals, psychiatric facilities and certain office buildings owned by the Government of Ontario;

Prescribes the procedure which must be followed when a home health-care worker exercises his/her right under the Act to leave a home without providing any further services because a person has refused to stop using an e-cigarette in the presence of the worker at the request of the worker;

Prescribes the procedure that applies when an employee complains that his or her employer has committed an act of reprisal in violation of the Act;Specify that the ban on selling or supplying an e-cigarette to a minor does not apply if the minor is a medical marihuana user who intends to use the e-cigarette for medical purposes;

Specifies that the ban on using an e-cigarette in smoke-free places does not apply to a medical marihuana user who uses an e-cigarette for medical purposes; and

Specifies that the ban on using an e-cigarette in an enclosed workplace and enclosed public place does not apply to an actor who uses an e-cigarette in a stage production.

It is proposed that the amendments to the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, and the sections of the Electronic Cigarettes Act, 2015 prohibiting sales to minors and prohibiting the use of e-cigarettes in smoke-free places, will come into force on January 1, 2016.

The ministry is working with its enforcement partners in the Public Health Units to ensure that the public, retailers and businesses are aware of the new rules and have the information necessary to meet their obligations under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act and the Electronic Cigarettes Act, 2015. The ministry will produce educational material and launch a broad public education campaign informing the public of the new restrictions regarding e-cigarette use.

Thank-you for your continued input and involvement in the implementation of the Making Healthier Choices Act 2015